


No Saints, No Paper Hearts, No Sacrifices

by Jyou_no_Sonoko



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Dialogue-Only, F/F, Gen, Lupercalia, Valentine's Day, marith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jyou_no_Sonoko/pseuds/Jyou_no_Sonoko
Summary: As Mary sits with the Valentine's pieces created by some of her students, she and Lilith discuss the roots and meaning of the day, from both of their perspectives, and once again set about building new traditions in the space in-between.
Relationships: Mary Wardwell | Madam Satan | Lilith/Original Mary Wardwell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	No Saints, No Paper Hearts, No Sacrifices

**Lilith:** ...You really like this sort of thing?

 **Mary:** Why not? It's sweet. And what's the harm in it?  
****

**Lilith:** In these garish cut-outs, not very much.  
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**Mary:** There, that's all of them.  
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**Lilith:** It's the 'saintliness' of it that leaves a bitter taste on the tongue.  
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**Mary:** Oh, you mean Saint Valentine? Did, did you perhaps— have you met him?  
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**Lilith:** What tales were you told of the so-called 'saint' Valentine?  
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**Mary:** That... the Emperor Claudius banned marriage amongst Christians, hoping that it would lead more men to join the military. And that Valentine, who was a priest, chose to marry them in secret, refusing to doom lovers, even if it cost him his life.  
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**Lilith:** As if marriage were any true indicator of love.  
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**Mary:** Maybe not the only indicator, but it has its place. Don't you think?  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Lilith:** I do not.  
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**Mary:**  
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**Lilith:** Another time, Mary.  
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**Mary:** Oh, of course.  
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**Lilith:**

**Mary:** Well. Well, regardless, he — _Valentine_ — he was found out, and jailed, and beheaded.  
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**Lilith:** Which earned him the title of 'saint'. And the post-humous task of looking after couples, beekeeping and violent seizures.  
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**Mary:** A man has to keep busy, I suppose.  
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**Lilith:** The truth is, there was never just one Catholic named Valentine, but in fact a bevy who made up the tale. Of whom I did encounter a few, in my time.  
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**Mary:** 'Encounter'.  
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**Lilith:** Encounter. Yes.  
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**Mary:** So then... you don't like Valentine's Day, because of its history? I mean, if you put aside the stories — and certainly very few people celebrating the day are interested in its roots — then can't it just be... nice? To have a day for thoughtful gifts? Little tokens of one's affection?  
****

**Lilith:** Why should such things need a day, if not to make up for a year's worth of indiscretions?  
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**Mary:** Maybe it's not needed, but people can still enjoy it?  
****

**Lilith:**  
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**Lilith:** It is, of course, yet another date colonised by the Christians. As much as the birth and resurrection of the Nazarene were conveniently set in stone.  
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**Mary:** Is it?  
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**Lilith:** February 14th is the Lupercalia.  
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**Mary:** Lupercalia...  
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**Lilith:** An ancient festival of passion. Where lovers chase each other through the woods, howling like wolves, to be joined.  
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**Mary:** That's... well, it's rather like some things I read in your coven's journal.  
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**Lilith:** It was a glorious affair, lasting a full day and night. First the sacrifice of blood—  
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**Mary:** Human?  
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**Lilith:** Goat, usually. Followed by a feast, and then the hunt, for each woman whose name was drawn in turn from the chalice.  
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**Mary:** Drawn by whom?  
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**Lilith:** The man whose turn it was to draw.  
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**Mary:** Always a man?  
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**Lilith:** Ever astute, Mary.  
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**Mary:** I can't say I'm surprised.  
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**Lilith:** The festival held a strong note of fertility in its bouquet. But not every coven was so rigid in its pairings. Indeed, as you'll know, some contained only women.  
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**Mary:** Which is honestly a lot less terrible to imagine than being chased through the woods by men.  
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**Lilith:** Men who would woo and not slay, ideally.  
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**Mary:** Surely. Ideally.  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:** And... they really chased each other down just after a feast?  
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**Lilith:** Such was the custom.  
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**Mary:** But wouldn't you be sleepy? Or at the very least, get a cramp?  
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**Lilith:** Look at you, trying to pick holes in centuries of witch tradition.  
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**Mary:** I'm not trying to pick holes! I just want it to make sense.  
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**Lilith:** When did passion ever make sense?  
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**Mary:** But what good is passion when your gut is seizing up?  
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**Lilith:** Perhaps they were firmer in gut than those living today.  
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**Mary:** That would certainly be fortunate for them.  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:**  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:** They must have at least taken a nap before the marathon, though!  
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**Lilith:** _(laughs)_ They may well have, Mary. Does that set your mind at ease?  
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**Mary:** Not remotely. But... was it fun? Did you have fun?  
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**Lilith:** What makes you think I took part in witch celebrations? I was seldom at such leisure.  
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**Mary:** Knowing you, I'm not sure how you'd resist.  
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**Lilith:** And have myself recognised?  
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**Mary:** You'd obviously go in disguise.  
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**Lilith:** And then what?  
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**Mary:** Hmm. Would you chase, or allow yourself to be chased?  
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**Lilith:** Being chaste is not what I'm best known for.  
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**Mary:** Or perhaps you'd switch roles, as amused you.  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Lilith:** I must admit, this talk is making me regrettably nostalgic.  
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**Mary:** Oh. I'm sorry?  
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**Lilith:** No need.  
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**Mary:** Do... will there be a Lupercalia in the Greendale woods, tomorrow night?  
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**Lilith:** Almost certainly, in some form or other. The locals are very deeply tied to their traditions. Though in my time here, I have not been privy to their rites.  
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**Mary:** Would you...  
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**Lilith:** Would I?  
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**Mary:** Do you want to go?  
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**Lilith:** Glamour myself into a Lupercalia, as some coy young witch?  
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**Mary:** If you'd like to?  
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**Lilith:** And you?  
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**Mary:** Oh goodness, no!  
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**Lilith:** No desire to rush barely clothed through the underbrush?  
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**Mary:** I will politely decline.  
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**Lilith:** Indeed.  
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**Mary:** But if you're feeling nostalgic and it would be fun for you?  
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**Lilith:** Lupercalia with a coven of strangers?  
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**Mary:** You know some of them, though.  
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**Lilith:** Know and know, Mary.  
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**Mary:** But?  
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**Lilith:** No, I don't think I'll take part in their celebrations. Besides, the desire to make myself the centre of attention would likely be overwhelming.  
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**Mary:** Maybe you deserve it.  
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**Lilith:** Of course I do. But no. Thank you, but no.  
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**Mary:** And you wouldn't... you wouldn't want to do anything in the mortal way of Valentine's, would you? Just something, um, for the two of us? Nothing gaudy, of course, just maybe...  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:**

**Lilith:** Have I ever frightened you, Mary?  
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**Mary:** I'm— what?  
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**Lilith:** Have I made you afraid. That is, beyond occasions very early in our acquaintance, when I was unforgivably cruel.  
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**Mary:** Oh. Since then, well...  
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**Mary:**  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:** I remember my dream. My nightmare. When you came in to save me, and you looked... you weren't yourself. And I didn't, for a moment, I didn't know it was you.  
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**Lilith:** It was and it wasn't.  
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**Mary:** But, since then...  
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**Lilith:** Since you called this place ' _our_ witch house'.  
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**Mary:** _Mm._ And it is. But, well, to be honest... once or twice. But you weren't in your right mind, I know that. You were spiralling, and holding on as best you could.  
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**Lilith:** Not that that was an excuse.  
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**Mary:** It was real, though. And very understandable.  
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**Lilith:** But, apart from my descent into pre-natal derangement?  
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**Mary:** Then, no. You haven't frightened me. You've scared me, though.  
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**Lilith:** There's a difference?  
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**Mary:** Absolutely. I've been scared of what might happen to you. I've been scared by the things you've told me, or when I think of all the things you _haven't_ told me.  
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**Lilith:** Ah.  
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**Mary:** But not you. I'm not afraid of you.  
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**Lilith:** Then...  
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**Mary:** Yes?  
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**Lilith:** Let me take you to the woods.  
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**Mary:** We've been many times.  
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**Lilith:** No. Deeper. Into the enchanted depths of them. Where everything hums with magic.  
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**Mary:** All right?  
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**Lilith:** A little after midnight tomorrow, it will be the New Moon. The darkest of skies and my personal lunar phase. You will have no hope of seeing your way under the canopy.  
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**Mary:** Surely not.  
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**Lilith:** And so you'll have to trust me. In the dark.  
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**Mary:** It won't be the first time. But why in the forest?  
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**Lilith:** I want to show you the thrill of Lupercalia. The feeling of danger, of one's senses alive yet thwarted. The search for contact, the _hunger_ for it.  
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**Mary:** I'm not sure—  
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**Lilith:** It won't be like the old rites. I won't chase you, or anoint your brow in blood. But the experience of it...  
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**Mary:**  
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**Mary:** A curated scare.  
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**Lilith:** An enlivening.  
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**Mary:** I _have_ been known to indulge in such things. Albeit from a distance.  
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**Lilith:** And after that, I will light a torch against the darkness. And upon a blanket, beneath the endless sky, we will enjoy our own private feast.  
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**Mary:**  
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**Lilith:**  
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**Mary:** I'm...  
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**Lilith:** Say yes. You won't regret it.  
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**Mary:** I do try to live free of regret.  
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**Lilith:** No saints. No paper hearts, nor sacrifices.  
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**Mary:** Just us.  
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**Lilith:** As serene as the darkness. As alive as the flame.  
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**Mary:** All right.  
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**Lilith:** All right?  
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**Mary:** Yes. Let's make another unforgettable memory. I don't think one can ever have too many of those.

**Author's Note:**

> I more or less use the original series pilot script as my time period, which stated that the series begins in 1969 (before cowardice overcame the showmakers), and with that in mind, following the progression of the AfMverse timeline, this piece may be said to take place in 1972. In which year, after Valentine's Day clocked over to 00:30, it became a New Moon. (I realise that this is extremely extra of me, but it does make me happy.)


End file.
